


Son of Plunder

by Vipersweb (Rhianona)



Series: Ianto at Torchwood 1 [2]
Category: Doctor Who (2005), Torchwood
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-02-04
Updated: 2008-02-04
Packaged: 2017-10-10 12:34:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/99778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rhianona/pseuds/Vipersweb
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack knows it's dangerous to play with timelines but he's not about to let one of his people die. Too bad Yvonne's not willing to transfer him back to Torchwood-Three</p>
            </blockquote>





	Son of Plunder

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: [Insert witty comment here] Torchwood &amp; Doctor Who don't belong to me
> 
> Sequel to Coffee to Die For

Yvonne smiled smugly as the commander of UNIT sipped his coffee with appreciation. It was echoed all around the table. Ever since she had placed Ianto Jones on her staff, her counterparts in UNIT and the MOD were happy to meet at Torchwood Tower for any discussions or negotiations. Before Ianto, she had had to pull teeth to even get them to step foot in the Tower. Torchwood hadn't had such good relations with either UNIT or the MOD in years. If she had known all it would take was some exceptionally good coffee, she would have hired a barista years ago.

"Now then, lets get started," she announced, bringing the meeting to order. She had a lot of concessions she wanted to gain today. The sooner started, the sooner Torchwood could begin reverse-engineering the latest piece of space junk that had come into their hands. The fact it was obviously a weapon of some sort meant UNIT and MOD wanted to be the ones to discover its uses. Yvonne wasn't about to let that happen. Possession was nine/tenths of the law and she would not give it up readily. She knew the weapon could go a long way to cementing Torchwood's plans for the Empire. After all, that was why they were here – for Queen and Country and the betterment of the Empire, no matter what some people at UNIT might protest.

She opened her agenda and began. The other nice aspect about Ianto was his ability to provide in depth files on whomever she was meeting – even on short notice. Yes, adding Ianto to her staff was one of the best things she had ever done.

***

Working for Yvonne at Torchwood One was magnitudes of degrees different from working for Torchwood Three. The level of professionalism that exuded from the very building itself had never existed at Three. And while he might privately admit he misses the less formal atmosphere of Three, he did enjoy his job duties here. True, he missed the archives, but working with Yvonne had other benefits.

He didn't know what the impetus for his transfer to her staff had been, though judging how his duties included the coffee making, he suspected she had learned of his skills in that arena. Of course, no one on her staff was so gauche as to order him to make the coffee, but after tasting the… slop _they_ had the temerity to call coffee, he had simply taken it over. After all, he actually _liked_ coffee.

He prided himself on having other skills to recommend him to her though and was proven correct when she placed him in charge of research and liaisons. If anyone wanted to speak to Yvonne, they had to go through him first. With the help of other members of the staff, Ianto quickly learned who could be handled by someone other than Yvonne, and who would only be satisfied by Yvonne. In the months following his move to her staff, he had become friendly with his counterparts in UNIT and the MOD. He had even put tentative feelers out towards the Americans – he had heard rumors of some top-secret organization that dealt with aliens.

While Yvonne loved flaunting Torchwood's power, Ianto quietly worked behind the scenes t make everything go smoothly. Together with his counterparts and the rest of Yvonne's team, they came up with deals and agreements that were not too noxious for which either organization to agree.

Ianto did his best to gently prod Yvonne in a less self-destructive direction. He had noticed since his transfer how intent – obsessed was the better word he privately admitted to himself – she was on rebuilding the British Empire to its former glory. It was worrisome, but hopefully, with the aid of those who worked on her staff, they could curb some of her enthusiasm.

***

"Ianto Jones," he heard from behind him. "Have you tired of London yet?"

Ianto turned to face his former boss with an impassive face. "Hello sir. I'll alert Yvonne to your presence for the quarterly meeting."

"Because I was thinking, you can come back with me and start up on Monday – I'll give you the weekend to unpack." Jack paused for a moment, taking the time to look (leer) at Ianto. "Though I gotta say, I wouldn't mind if you kept the suit."

"Careful Jack. That's harassment," Yvonne's cultured voice came from the doorway to her office. "You're late and we have a lot to go over," she continued, moving aside so that the brash American could enter.

Ianto did not let his face show any discomfort as he overheard Jack asking Yvonne what it would take for her to let him return to Cardiff. He was rather pleased when Yvonne told the man that it would take a lot more than a pretty smile.

It was nice to be wanted for his skills and not his looks. He smiled as he calmly continued with his duties. He needed to finish the report on the latest alien artifact successfully reversed engineered.

***

Someone must have alerted Lisa to Jack's presence, because she arrived to spirit him away for lunch. In truth, no one knew why Ianto had asked to transfer – most accepted his explanation about career advancement and a desire to live in London. After all, he was coming from _Cardiff_. Never mind that he was a Welshman and still had the accent he made no move to conceal. For most of his fellow co-workers, Cardiff was the backend of beyond and they had no desire to visit, never mind actually work there – even if it was for Torchwood.

Even Lisa did not know the true reason for his request. But Yvonne's staff did know Ianto's coffee and organization skills and did not want to lose either to Jack or Three. They had heard Jack's comments and Paul, Yvonne's PA instructed the rest to keep Ianto out of sight from the man.

"We don't want to go back to drinking that dreadful stuff, do we? Or having to beg UNIT or the MOD to take our calls?" he asked in a hastily put together conference while Ianto was making coffee for Yvonne and Jack. At the grimaces on their faces, he nodded. "Exactly. We keep Jack away from our boy and it will be safer… for us all!"

Ianto did not mind their efforts, especially since it meant he and Lisa got to enjoy a nice and uninterrupted lunch.

Finding Lisa here was a surprise. He had met her a week after he started in London. She had wanted to meet the person responsible for the god-like coffee. In an attempt to get his recipe, she invited him to dinner. While she didn't manage to pry the recipe from him, she had found to her shock that they got along rather well. One dinner became two and then three. Suddenly she realized they were dating. While their hours meant that they might not see each other very often, it didn't stop them from deciding to move in with one another. She rather thought this was the real thing. As soon as she had heard that Jack Harkness was in the building, she was determined to make sure he didn't get his hands on her boyfriend. He wasn't getting Ianto back, not without a fight. Because while Ianto might be content with moving back to Cardiff, _she_ had no desire to do so.

***

Returning to the office after lunch, Ianto buried himself in his files, determined to finish the latest report to go to UNIT and the MOD. He was grateful to his officemates for making sure he remained undisturbed. He could hear the occasional shout from Yvonne's office and figured that Jack was trying to circumnavigate Yvonne's plans while she was attempting to keep a leash on him.

He snorted. He doubted either of their plans would work. They were both too certain that they knew the right way to go about things and unfortunately – or fortunately, depending on your viewpoint – they had completely opposite ideas of how to go about doing so.

He skipped out of the office at five, with the blessings of Paul. He left the finished report on his desk, ready for Yvonne in the morning. As he escaped down the elevator, he was just thankful he did not have to interact with Jack anymore… or at least not until the next quarterly meeting.

***

Ianto knew he should be more surprised than he was to see Jack hanging outside his door, but he couldn't bring himself to feign surprise. "What is it this time Jack? Are there any more mysterious objects you want me to smuggle out of the Archives?" he asked tiredly, referring to the hand Jack had insisted he needed last Christmas. He opened the door and held it open, indicating with a wave of a hand for Jack to precede him into the flat. He hadn't seen the man since Christmas. He had thought – hoped really – that Jack had given up on trying to convince him to return to Three. After all, he had been with One for two years now.

He shrugged his coat off, making sure to hang it in the cupboard before heading to the kitchen to make some coffee. He was mildly surprised that Jack didn't follow him. Instead the man sat on the sofa in the parlor. Ianto carried the tray of mugs and biscuits there and sat down on the chair after giving Jack a mug. "Now why are you here this time, sir?" he asked.

Jack looked pained for a moment, and Ianto briefly wondered at the man's serious manner. It was rather alarming in truth. He was used to the flirting Jack, the one that entered every situation with a smirk. "Ianto, I would really, really like you to come back to Cardiff with me. I can even find a place for your girlfriend. But please… Yan, come back." Jack leaned forward as if trying to impart the seriousness of his request.

Ianto stared at the man before placing his coffee down on the coffee table. "Sir, what aren't you telling me? You know as well as I that there isn't a position for Lisa at Three. I can't imagine why you believe you need me to return. You've managed since I've left to soldier on- I know my position hasn't been replaced. So truth, sir."

Jack just shook his head. "I can't tell you that Ianto. Just _please_ come back. You can't stay here."

"You don't have the right to order me around sir. As I've told you before, I'm not leaving. I like London."

"God damn it Ianto!" Jack shouted in frustration. "This isn't a game. I'm asking you to please leave London. Hell transfer to Two – I don't care. Just get out of London."

_He was scared,_ Ianto realized as he looked at his old boss. _Jack was actually terrified. What does he know that we don't?_ He had long suspected, though had never voiced his suspicions, that Jack had knowledge of future events. He wondered if Jack's warning had anything to do with that mysterious disc that had arrived earlier this week. Whatever it was, Yvonne was giddy with excitement over it and had authorized all manner of tests on it. The amount of power it emitted thrilled her and she was already talking about how it would return the Empire back to preeminence. He sighed. It did not matter. He had a duty, a duty shared by all on Yvonne's staff, to try and rein in her megalomaniac desires. He could not abandon them by running to another branch of Torchwood.

"Sir, I'm not leaving. I'm sorry sir, but I cannot abandon Torchwood Tower," he told Jack softly.

Jack bowed his head in resignation. He had hoped that this time Ianto would listen to him and return to Cardiff, but short of kidnapping him, Jack couldn't see how he could succeed in getting this beautiful young Welshman away from the destruction and mayhem he knew would occur soon.

"Just… if you change your mind, give me a call. Day or night. Please Ianto," he finally said, conceding the fight.

***

No one really liked the ghost shift. It was… creepy. Ianto often used it as an excuse to make coffee, not willing to let Yvonne see how much it disconcerted him. Yvonne was beyond ecstatic at the amount of power the artifact was generating, even as they were no closer to figuring out what it was. When the Doctor interfered with the shift, she was even more pleased. To capture the Doctor was a coup no member of Torchwood had ever achieved. It had frustrated the directors of Torchwood in the 1970s when the Doctor had been working with UNIT. He had been so close and yet completely out of reach to them.

But now, now it was different. The Doctor had walked (well materialized really) in Torchwood's own building. There was not anyone to stop Torchwood from taking custody of the alien responsible for its very inception.

Even as Yvonne strutted off to meet the Doctor and his companion, Ianto and a few others of her staff began to quietly get in touch with UNIT. Ianto had a bad feeling about this and it didn't help that some members of the staff were acting erratically. When he had mentioned it to Paul, he had been told to begin Protocol Zed-13-Beta. Ianto nodded and slipped off to comply.

***

It was hell on Earth. Flame and smoke enshrouded the halls, screams of terror echoed even as gunshots and the zap of the alien weapons ricocheted throughout the building. Ianto grimly grasped the alien weapon he had grabbed from the Archives as he led the team of survivors to the point where UNIT was supposed to meet them. Once he got them to safety, he needed to get to the deadlock room and set the self-destruct. Torchwood Tower was lost and he refused to even think about his friends and co-workers and god! Lisa. He had a duty to perform and by gods he would comply.

***

The sudden seize fire was startling. Ianto watched in disbelief as some unknown force drew the Cybermen and Dalek away. He was thankful to whoever was responsible but was numb with what had happened. He walked aimlessly through the wreckage escorted by a small team from UNIT. They had all volunteered to escort him, volunteered because they knew him and weren't willing to let him reenter the hell that Torchwood Tower had become on his own. It was truly horrific what he saw in the halls, and when they got to the construction sight, more than one person had to leave the room, regurgitating their lunch as they did.

He had no words for what he saw. Bodies in the midst of conversion, limbs tossed to the side, blood smeared all over, the crackle of fires. He gave a cry of pain as he recognized the person in a conversion unit to his left. He stumbled over to see his beautiful Lisa. "Oh god no!"

"Ianto, what is it?"

"It's Lisa. Oh god! I need to help her!" he tried to explain as he peered closely at the alien technology. He missed the looks between his escorts.

"Okay Ianto, we'll help. Come on lets hide her and we'll get her out of here and somewhere safe when things quiet," Major Ellen Frieth told him, pulling him away from his girlfriend.

Ianto nodded, even as he pulled Lisa away from the destructive chaos she laid among. He promised her in broken sobs that she would be okay, that he would get her help. His escort had no idea if anything could be done for the poor young woman, but they were willing to try and help her. Ianto deserved it.  
***

"Any word Tosh?" Jack asked as he paced before the makeshift hospital in front of what used to be Torchwood Tower. He and his team had driven all night to get here and offer what help they could. Even knowing that something was going to happen to Torchwood One, Jack had not realize how truly devastating the combined attack by the Cybermen and Daleks had been. He closed his eyes, silently damning Ianto for not listening to him and moving back to Cardiff. The numbers did not look good – the rescue crews were pulling out more dead bodies than live ones. As the hours passed, Jack admitted it was unlikely Ianto had been one of the lucky survivors. He closed his eyes in pain. He had already heard how the Doctor had once again saved the day by closing the void. But the Doctor had disappeared and while reports stated that Rose had been with him when he arrived at Torchwood, it seemed that she hadn't survived the subsequent battle.

Sometimes he hated Torchwood.

"Jack! I found him," Tosh called out, her laptop finally yielding the information Jack had so desperately wanted to see. "He's in the Hospital tent, nothing too serious in terms of injuries."

Jack didn't even wait to hear her finish the report as he stalked into the tent. His eyes scanned the beds, wincing internally as he saw the state of some of the people lying there. Finally he saw the face he was searching for and strode to the bedside. "Hey Ianto," he said softly, taking in the pale, soot-streaked appearance of the man.

Ianto struggled to open his eyes. The painkillers the doctors had placed him on were making him woozy. "Sir?" he asked.

Smiling brilliantly, Jack leaned down. "So I was thinking; we have an opening at Three and you're perfect for it. What do you say?"

His mind racing, Ianto considered the possibilities of the transfer. The Hub had all sorts of tunnels and empty rooms, perfect for hiding Lisa while he found a way to cure her. It also had the advantage of being familiar. It might have been years since he had worked at Three, but he knew the routines there. Slowly, he nodded in acceptance.

"Great! I'll talk to the doctors here and we'll see how to get you out of here and back to Cardiff." Jack paused before grasping Ianto's hand in his. "Ianto, I'm really glad you made it. I'm sorry you've lost so many, but I'm really, really glad you're still here."

Having found what he was looking for and said his piece, Jack left the tent, already on the comm and asking Tosh to make the arrangements of transferring Ianto back to Cardiff.

***

"Are you sure we can't convince you to join with UNIT?" Ellen asked as she watched Ianto finish loading up the equipment that would hopefully keep Lisa alive long enough for him to reverse what the Cybermen had done to her.

"Thank you, but I need to remain with Torchwood," Ianto said. He rubbed a tired hand across his eyes. "I can't help but feel guilty about what happened, even though everyone says I shouldn't. I know Yvonne is ultimately responsible for what happened, but I can't help but think we could have done more to dissuade her from experimenting on that damned disc," he confessed bitterly. He sighed. "Besides, I know how Three operates. It will make things… easier for me." He shrugged, throwing Ellen a halfhearted smile before pulling her in for a hug. "Thank you. Thank you and everyone else for all the help. When she's better, I'll invite you to dinner."

Ellen watched as Ianto climbed into the van and carefully pulled away into London's early morning traffic. She sighed as he left; while she hoped he could help Lisa, she had her doubts. It didn't stop her or the others on her team from helping him, but it didn't mean she had high hopes. She just prayed he would make it out alive.

***

Lisa was settled down in a portion of the Hub that was never visited by anyone. Ianto carefully made his way from the Archives into the main area of the Hub, smiling at Tosh as he made his way to the small kitchen. Time to make the coffee before he headed to the Tourist Office. His job here was far removed from what he had done at Torchwood Tower, but the quiet let him focus on what was most important: Lisa. He knew without a doubt he could save her – and he planned on doing so, even if it killed him.


End file.
